A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court Book and Movie Review

Tim Wick

I really hope someone else chooses to write a review about this one because I know I was in the minority about this book. However, if I'm the only person who writes his opinion, I guess that my opinion - unpopular as it may be - will be the one that everyone reads. In case you are wondering, when I say "everyone" I am referring to myself and the webmaster for the site.

In my review of The Man Who Would be King I mentioned that I was pretty sure I didn't like Kipling. Well I am quite certain I like Mark Twain. There is an almost happy-go-luckys aspect to his writing that I find appealing. Although A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court was not a Twain book I had read, I was happy it was suggested as a book/movie selection. I had certain assumptions about the book, knowing the movie was a musical starring Bing Crosby, but those assumptions were mostly wrong.

Twain has always had a dark side. Injun Joe in Tom Sawyer is a good example. But here, Twain is writing political satire. He is decrying the old world ways of slavery and tyranny while poking fun at the industrial revolution at the same time. His point is that something in between is altogether preferable. He uses extremely dark imagery to tell his story. Near the end, the narrator defeats all the Knights of the land using electrified fences and a primitive machine gun. The problem is that he cannot escape from the pile of bodies surrounding his stronghold. He and his men are defeated by the sickness brought on by the corpses they cannot escape. Twain is trying to say that technology can have serious downsides if you do not pay attention to the consequences of your actions. I believe I was the only person present at our meeting that genuinely enjoyed the book.

The criticisms leveled at it were fair enough. The Narrator is a pompous ass who is very difficult to like. The book is very dark - much darker than most of Twain's writing. None of this bothered me. I imagine this is because I enjoy political satire and found this book a good example of it. Others did not, and that is certainly their prerogative. If I had to guess, I would say that most people who chose to read this book would not like it. That, of course, does not change the fact that I did.

So how does one make a dark political satire into a musical starring Bing Crosby? Badly. Crosby is supposed to be a blacksmith rather than an engineer. Just try to picture a blacksmith that looks and sings like Bing Crosby. Try. I know it's hard, but keep trying. You can't do it, can you? He just doesn't fit the role at all. You look at a man who hasn't done anything more manual than carry his own golf bag in ten years and you watch him pretending to be a blacksmith and you lose all interest in the movie (at least I did). Part of this is personal prejudice. I find Crosby's "boo boo boo boooooo's" as grating as fingernails on a chalkboard (I can't think of a better cliche - sorry). Any time I start to see his eyes go to half mast, I know he's going to break into a song. That is my cue to take a long trip to another part of the house. I sat this one out, though. I felt it was my duty to watch it all the way through.

I don't want to talk about the butchering of the Arthurian legends in the movie. The book takes liberties based on the fact that Twain is trying to imply that the basics of the Arthurian legends are correct, but he tempers them with scientific reality. The movie makes Arthur and old man and Merlin a young one. Morgana Le Fay becomes Arthur's niece. Guenivere is not even present. It is so far from the actual Aruthurian legend that it should not even be allowed to use the phrase "King Arthurs Court" in the title.

The thing that totally killed the movie was Rhonda Fleming as Arthurs niece and Crosby's love interest. She played the whole movie with a sort of doe - eyed hammishness that I was wishing that Crosby would dump her and make a play for the far more interesting Morgan Le Fay. No such luck. For reasons that are unclear, Bing nicknames her Sandy (the nickname the character in the book gives to his future bride) just to make the movie a shred like the book.

I like stupid movies. I really do. And I really love 40's and 50's musicals (that don't star Bing Crosby). I didn't like this one, though. Not just because of Bing or because it pretty much ignored the source material. More because it was a flat and lifeless example of an art form that can be great if it is along the line of Singing in the Rain or West Side Story. This movie is nothing special.

But again I will admit I was in the minority. Still, if you have read my other reviews and find yourself agreeing with my opinions, then by all means read the book - but avoid the movie.